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NCTTA

NCTTA Newsletter
October 2009

With the 2009-2010 Competition Season in full swing, we take the wraps off the YouTube video contest for this year, we've got a list of best practices for running a college table tennis club and NCTTA schools participating in a charity benefit tournament. Plus a round-up of news and profiles from around the League.

Read on for all this and more ...

NCTTA Unveils YouTube Video Contest
Lights! Camera! Action!

Calling all YouTube fans, this is your moment to shine and capture some of the planet’s best videos of college table tennis action at this fall’s NCTTA regional tournaments. Let the creative juices flow.

NCTTA is bringing back its YouTube Video Contest for a second year. You don’t need to possess the directing skills of Hollywood’s finest, just a little creativity. Plus, the winning school/club will receive a very nice gift certificate. That translates into equipment for your club! And during these bleak economic times, every dollar counts. (We’re still finalizing the details on exact prizes and amounts, look for these in a future newsletter).

Ah yes, there are a few guidelines:

  1. Capture “quality” video footage at your upcoming NCTTA regional tournament
  2. Edit your raw footage to produce a 1 to 5-minute video
  3. Post your video on YouTube for all to see
  4. Enter the contest by notifying treasurer@nctta.org of your video on YouTube
Francois Charvet, NCTTA Treasurer, and other folks in college table tennis circles are really pumped about this new contest. Winning videos, Charvet says, will really “showcase the NCTTA regionals” and League competition. He suggests that be at least 75 percent of the focus. The judges will also give high marks to videos that reflect quality material in terms of footage and editing.

It’s a great way to promote our favorite Olympic sport around the globe. It’s also a terrific way to earn a little cash for our clubs on college campuses around the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico (only official or transitional NCTTA member schools in good standing can enter).

Start those cameras rolling!!

Best Practices for Running a College Club
Learn how to make your club one of the best in the country

Want to take your college table tennis club to the next level? Interested in learning a few tips and tricks for running a club, recruiting members, fundraising and more?

Then check out the NCTTA Best Practices for Running a College Table Tennis Club.

NCTTA asked current and former leaders of some of the most successful table tennis clubs in the country for advice on how to run a great college table tennis club. This advice was compiled into a list of best practices, including the following areas:
  • Recruitment (how to attract new members)
  • Marketing and Communications (how to get the word out about club activities)
  • Facility Management (how to get a place to play)
  • Club Management (how to organize club activities)
  • Club Finances (how to raise money to fund activities)
So check out the full list and you're sure to find a few ideas you can start using right away in your club!

Upcoming October Division Competition
Check out which divisions are playing when in October 2009

October 17th  @ University of Akron (Ohio Division)
October 24th  @ Decatur Gym, Atlanta (Georgia Division)
October 25th @ UW Milwaukee (Upper Midwest Division)
October 25th @ Balboa Park, San Diego (Southern California Division)
October 31st @ Mississippi College (Dixie Division)

Many more Division meets coming up in the month of November as well.

Milwaukee Area Gearing up for 2010 Championships
Waukesha Convention and Visitors Bureau expects event to boost local economy

As the fall 2009 season gets underway, diehard college table tennis fans are already thinking ahead to the 2010 Championships in Waukesha, Wisconsin about 15 miles from downtown Milwaukee.
 
"We're excited about it,'' says Matthew Olson, sports sales manager with the Waukesha and Pewaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau. "This is the first national sports event we bid on and won.'' Olson estimates the visitors flocking to Wisconsin for the 2010 Nationals will spend $180,000, counting lodging, meals, gas and shopping over a four-day period. The tournament hotel, the Milwaukee Marriott West, will be about a 15-minute drive to the site of the action, the spacious Center Court Sports Complex. 

Olson says the tournament will give a shot in the arm to the local economy. Like just about everywhere else in the USA, his area in southeast Wisconsin has been hurt by America's recession. "Certainly we are affected,'' he said.

At the moment, Linda Leaf, president of the Shorewood Table Tennis Club near Milwaukee and Volunteer Coordinator for the April 2010 event, is busy. By late August and September, she'd cranked up her campaign to recruit Championships volunteers from her club and others in the region. Her club hosted the 2009 Badger Open, a 4-Star USATT event, Sept. 19-20. Scott Ryan, NCTTA Historian was in attendance to tour the facilities and plan for the 2010 Championships.

Wisconsin organizers hope to match the success of the 2009 Nationals in Rochester, Minnesota. The 2009 Championships attracted about 250 players from more than 50 different colleges and universities from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.

NCTTA Schools Participate in AHA Benefit Tourney
Pensacola tournament raised $900, helping raise awareness for the American Heart Association (AHA)

The October 10 Pensacola Table Tennis Open was designed to help raise funds and raise awareness for the American Heart Association. The successful event did that and much more.

Spearheaded by L.A. Johnston and other leaders of the Pensacola Table Tennis Club, the tournament attracted many of the top college teams from Florida, Alabama and Mississippi ranging within two NCTTA Divisions (Florida and Dixie). The marathon of table tennis at Pensacola's Fricker Community Center lured many of the best from Florida State University, Mississippi College, the University of West Florida and Mississippi State University. Read more ...

Sponsor Corner
Special thanks to our sponsors, Newgy and Killerspin!

Killerspin NCTTA, would like to thank Killerspin for its support of college table tennis. Killerspin is the exclusive NCTTA League and Championship Equipment sponsor through 2011. Member schools just need to fill out the Killerspin Premium Membership Program Application to receive phenomenal equipment discounts in the online Killerspin store. NewgyAlso, special thanks to NEWGY Industries, for its continued support of college table tennis including the Newgy-NCTTA Scholarship Program. Newgy offers a great way to fundraise for your club by signing up and participating in their Newgy Robo Pong Affiliate Program.

Rapid Ascent for 4th Ranked Wisconsin Badgers
Club uses organized practice sessions, coaching and solid club management to grow and improve

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers may be hearing the cheers of legions of Cheeseheads, but these days, a growing number of sports fans in the dairy state are also cheering the winning ways of a talented University of Wisconsin Table Tennis Club.
It’s been a rapid ascent for the 3-year old Wisconsin program; the Badgers coed team is ranked No. 4 in the NCTTA's 2009-2019 pre-season rankings. Just a notch above is No. 3 Lindenwood University of Missouri, while the perennial top 10 team from Virginia Tech holds the No. 5 spot. Not bad company for the still nascent Wisconsin team.

On a Madison campus with a popular creamery that's among the best in America, the Badgers started out as a club in 2006 with three antique wooden tables in a small room in the student union. During the summer before their freshmen year as Wisconsin students, Richard Qian and Brian Hibler hatched the idea for a club in Brian's home basement. Both were Brookfield, Wis. residents and longtime players in their hometown. Qian later met fellow student Andrew Knips and went to work to build the team.

Fast-forward to the fall of 2009 ... Read more ...

Around the Nets
A roundup of news items from around the league

Teams rush to meet early NCTTA membership deadline
NCTTA leaders, including treasurer Francois Charvet, worked into the wee hours of the morning as a barrage of teams signed up at the last minute to beat the Oct. 1 early membership deadline. As of Oct. 1, 111 schools had registered and paid their fees with more still expected before their division meets. Six of the 18 NCTTA divisions (Southern Cal, New England, Dixie, NYC, Virginia and Mid-Atlantic) have eight or more schools.

Table tennis grows at Furman University
Furman University in South Carolina is building a table tennis program this fall and that's just peachy with its players. While the school lacks a decent practice table - it belongs to the Department of Chemistry in the basement of Furman's Science Building - there are positive signs for table tennis growth on the Greenville campus. Read more ...

Malone University aims for transitional membership in Spring 2010
Ryan H. Farr, a senior at Malone University indicates that his school is hoping to join the Ohio Division as a transitional team by Spring 2010. On the Canton, Ohio campus, table tennis is a popular sport, but at the moment falls short of club status. Says Farr, "we love the competition, but ultimately we do it because we just love to play.'' 

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary builds table tennis club
Future Baptist preachers, missionaries and prospective educators are playing key roles as New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary launches a table tennis team. The seven men on the New Orleans team will soon hit the road to battle another Baptist school, Mississippi College, plus other Southern universities in the Dixie Division Tournament on the Mississippi College campus. Read more ...

Knights Table Tennis Tournament raises $400 for UCF club
In addition to the schools featured in the September newsletter, the University of Central Florida Table Tennis Team is one of many around the country working hard to rake in dollars despite the recession. In early Sept., the team hosted a Knights Table Tennis Tournament in Orlando to helped raise funds for uniforms and traveling. The 40 entries (max allowed) included teams from Florida State, South Florida, North Florida and Florida. "We were very successful and were able to raise $400 after expenses,'' reports David Llona, a UCF student and Knights Table Tennis vice president.

Llona was recently awarded one of the four $1,000 Newgy Scholarship winners among undergraduates nationwide for his passion for table tennis. "I never thought that when I started playing table tennis three years ago that I would be receiving such a great reward for a sport that I had no idea was so big until I started playing competitively,'' Llona said. " I hope that this scholarship will live on for many years.''

Virginia high schooler: hooked on music and table tennis
Remember the name Greg Mascialino. This 16-year-old Virginia high school junior combines a passion for music with a love of table tennis. And he's smart, too. College recruiters who want to see Greg in uniform and slamming table tennis on their campus better pay attention and take good notes. Read more ...

Got an idea for a future story or newsletter topic? Email the NCTTA Media Relations Chair.
NCTTA Newsletter - October 2009

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